Long Operas

I commented a couple of days ago on the glorious production of Rossini's William Tell at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall on 16th July. It seems to have been well received by critics almost all of whom were surprised by the sheer quality of the music. But what surprised me was that there were, apparently, many empty seats. The Proms attracts good audiences for a many an obscure work listening to some of which can take away the will to live. So why not a full house for this huge masterpiece? Was it condemned by its obscurity? In this age of instant gratifications does no one want to endure 4½ hours of anything? I have sat through 4½ hours of Wagner and I can remember every dreadful minute of it. I saw Lohengrin and Das Rheingold in the 1970s and I can remember that each opera seemed to go on not for hours and hours but for months. One of the problems I have with Wagner is the ridiculous plots — which make Rossini comic operas seem positively sane and commonplace — but also they are performed by singers who cannot sing. I know this is a sweeping condemnation. There are some good singers in Wagner operas. But they are singers who sing Italian and French opera for the most part. The real horrors are the specialist Wagner singers. They sing nothing else because they can drone on in Wagner without anyone getting excited one way or the other. Rossini is not like that. His William Tell buzzes along with it huge choruses and arias that make great demands of proper singers. It has been suggested that in many ways the work does better as an oratorio rather than an opera. If that is enough to guarantee its more frequent performance, I have no problem with that. It avoids the theatrical production problems and allows a big chorus to be used. But maybe people did not turn up because they will not sit through 4½ hours of anybody's opera.

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